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Famous Names in the Living Room

Star-Struck Furniture Sells
With Celebrities' Cachet

By

June FletcherStaff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Updated Oct. 10, 2003 12:01 a.m. ET

HIGH POINT, N.C. -- To the great names in furniture -- Thomas Chippendale, Duncan Phyfe and Frank Lloyd Wright -- add a new one: Humphrey Bogart. Sleek, mahogany furniture inspired by the "Casablanca" star, priced at about $2,500 for a bar, $2,000 for a bed and $2,500 for a vanity with big beveled mirror, is hitting stores now.

Here's looking at you, kid. After three years of flat sales, the $40 billion home-furnishings industry is trying another tactic: brand-name style. Not Queen Anne or Biedermier, but brands fronted...